I wrote this because Zeus is actually one of my favourite heroes, and seeing that everyone had such a bad impression on him, I did a search for the guides on him and only found one really really outdated guide, therefore I decided to write one on him. It may not seem like a guide to some of you, but it contains tips on how to use his skills and my way of playing him. You should, in any case, try not to ks because it is real easy to get kills with him early game. Without KSing, of course.

Pros

-has one of the strongest nuke in the game-dominates early game - mid game-able to kill those pesky windwalking heroes that always manage to escape with less than 100hp left

Cons

-low hp, easy target for ambushes and ganks-low mana pool since he needs to cast his skills all at once-dominating power starts to diminish mid-late game

Wow, a cooldown of 2 seconds! This is not really true, because sometimes the arc lightning takes a long time to bounce and you cannot cast another arc lightning during that period, you can only cast it after it has finished bouncing. This skill is much better than chain lightning because the damage is constant throughout, no damage loss when it bounces.

Did you know?

-Arc lightning will only bounce once on each target, it will not bounce twice or more on the same target

Static Field (F)Whenever Zeus casts a spell, he will shock enemy heroes within 500 AoE a % of their current HPLevel 1 - Shocks for 5% of current hit points.Level 2 - Shocks for 7% of current hit points.Level 3 - Shocks for 9% of current hit points.Level 4 - Shocks for 11% of current hit points.Mana Cost: N/ACooldown: N/A

People seem to belittle this skill, it is now much more better than in the past although some may not think so. Now look at it this way, in the past you had to keep pressing F. But now, since arc lightning is spammable, you get 2 spells in one for the same cost!

Did you know?

-Static field cannot be reduced by magic resistance or armor-Goes through certain skills like borrowed time and dispersion-Static field ONLY affects heroes, it does not affect creeps at all

This is the skill which makes everybody have such a bad impression of Zeus, thinking that he is only for noob users who like to ks. But this is truly a devasting skill during team matches, this skill is similar to QoP’s sonic wave except that this skill will NOT miss.But there is one thing to remember though, never try to cut off his beard or you will pay with this.

Did you know?

-Reveals invisible units but will not damage them

Skill Build

OMG i wrote aftershock instead of static field and nobody pointed that out, thanks to kevin 3310 for pointing it out.

Lightning bolt is a high fixed damage nuke, therefore it must be gotten as soon as possible of course, thundergod’s wrath is a no brainer I hope and Arc lightning helps a lot in harassing and getting creep kills. The damage increase per arc lightning is miserable and won’t make a lot of difference, and you don’t really need it to bounce up to 15 times do you? Therefore static field would be much a better choice since it probably deals more damage than arc lightning at every level.

Level 1 arc lightning is for using on creeps early if you find trouble last hitting. Level 3 lightning bolt gets you first blood real easy, seriously. I will elaborate more on this in strategy section.

Static field at level 2> lightning bolt at level 2, because you would probably deal more damage when static field procs with arc lightning than a level 1 lightning bolt

Item Build

Tangoes and Clarities

You need some of these to help your survive your early game while rushing your arcane ring. You can’t afford rings because they are too costly and will slow you down for your arcane ring, and the clarities help in using arc lightning to farm and harass at the same time.

Arcane Ring

This item is a MUST on all zeus players. It solves your mana problem immediately and surely,allowing you to cast an extra lightning bolt every 33 seconds! Even a clarity needs more than that amount of time!

of course, you forgot about the ever so important item for everybody,

Boot of Speed

Without this item, Zeus will have a hard time walking as his every so schexy beard is too long and keeps getting into his way.

So now, we have the final list of items, let us take a look at them again:

WTF, THATS ALL? Yeah, that’s about all you need to OWN.

As the game goes on, and you have more cash to spare, you might want to get the following items

Blinkdagger : Get this if you’re always getting ganked, and this helps a lot in running around the map and killing retreating heroes with your lightning bolt.

From here onwards, note that it should be situational, adapt to your own situation. For example, if you still find problems with your mana pool, then get soul booster and upgrade it into scepter later. If you find no problems with your mana pool anymore but you find yourself getting targeted and dying a lot, then get a heart instead.

Yes, you guessed it, a Refresher Orb! Why is this item so important to our every so schexy Zeus? This is a secret, but let me tell you it helps him regains back his stamina to cast all of his spells again for a cost of 375 mana! Woo, now really behold the wrath of the thundergod!

BAD ITEM

What’s next? Oh, of course. Why certain items are BAD, and I mean BAD, on him. Well, what I mean is you can get them if you have excessive cash, but they in no way should take priority over agahim’s and refresher orb.

This is the fake version of Agahim, although they look really alike of course Agahim is always better. a 400 damage nuke for 245 mana with 40 second cooldown? Zeus has one 350 nuke for 135 mana with 6 seconds cooldown, why would you use this item when he himself has such a nice nuke.

Are you insulting his intelligence? This item does not add as much hp and mana to Zeus than agahim’s, and casting all of his spells at one go is already pretty difficult, let alone 2 more units. And yeah, his beard always get stucked in the books after he finishes reading them therefore he has quit reading books.

And one more thing, if you noticed, all of them are Mr, thus of course they are not suitable for our every so schexy zeus.

WHAT ABOUT.. ITEMS LIKE

MEKASM

GUINSOO

I have no idea why you would want to spend money on these items when it doesn’t really help you much at all. These items are ’support’ items, which means they’re best left to someone on your team who can afford the extra gold. Zeus already needs a lot of mana to spam his spells, getting mekasm would only put more strain on his mana pool. Guinsoo is pointless, since you have arcane ring plus 1 disable won’t help you much. Getting a dagger +arcane ring instead would be much better in both boosting his survibility and solving his mana problems.

Strategy

Early game (Levels 1- 6)

Ok, so you find Zeus attractive and likes his beard so much that you decides to choose him. Get your tangoes and clarities(preferably 4 of each), and head off to the top or bottom lane. You may get flamed for this, but in my opinion Zeus should never go to the mid lane. Why? You do not have any forms of regen yet, and you are very dependent on items, and you also have to get to level 6 ASAP. Why? Because if you get to level 6 ASAP and other enemy heroes have not made their shopping trips and bought hp increasing items you will have an easy time killing them. Enough about that, we will talk about that later.

So, head on to the top or bottom lane. Now there is one thing to note, Zeus’s attack animation is really really very slow, you will have a hard time getting last hits. But wait, there is always the infamous arc lightning! Arc lightning is real easy to get creep kills in the red range, and at the same time you damage the enemy hero. Do not use arc lightning excessively, last hit whenever you can, try to use arc lightning only when your mana is near to full. Once you reach level 3, if your lane hero is an agi or int, you are almost guaranteed to get first blood. Zeus’s mana pool without any items is around 335 at level 3, here is how to get it:

1)Try to land 1 or 2 hits on the hero, if they are melee most likely they will walk away, then just lightning bolt them. So now you have done 131.25 damage with lightning bolt to them, and maybe 40-60damage from your normal hits.2)They most probably will not go back yet, they will still hang around. After your first lightning bolt, you should have around 335-95=240 left, enough for 2 more lightning bolts. But wait, here’s the tricky part.3)You should wait for your lightning bolt to cd before attacking again. Next, use your level 1 arc lightning. preferably 2 times, so it’s 130 mana and 127.5 damage. .4)So, of course the next thing you should do is to cast lightning bolt. All this is possible with 335 mana, 2 arc lightnings cost 130 mana and 2 lightning bolts cost 190 mana which makes it 320 mana, and the damage you deal is 131.25 +40+ 131.25 + 40 +127.5=470 damage. That is after including magic resistance already. Now here, 40 damage is only IF you only landed 1 normal hit on him, but most probably you could have been able to land 2 or 3 more if they were being stubborn and refused to go back after the first lightning bolt.

Although my item build has been changed, the above steps still work well. Just use your clarity whenever you have less than 100 mana and continue per normal. Be careful not to get your clarities dispelled though!

Note that the above doesn’t work as well anymore with the introduction of tangoes and clarities in game. When that happens, most people usually will use their tango after your first lightning bolt, just continue to farm your arcane ring ASAP then and don’t try to pull this off.

So now, if you have gotten your first blood or if you were unlucky and he managed to escape with a bit of life left, continue to farm till you get 1700gold. Now you can head off to the secret shop, back to base and get your arcane ring for some ownage!!! If your team has a chicken that would be even better!

Level 7 is the start of Mid game for Zeus. Why? With a nuke that deals 350 damage that early, you can now start to look for easy prey, preferably heroes with life under 600. If it is your lane hero, it is really easy, but if it is not then it is kind of hard to kill them. If it is your lane hero, just cast one lightning bolt on him first, use arcane ring, wait for it to cooldown. When the cooldown finishes, use it again, and he would be already near to half hp. If you are sure you can kill him with wrath and arc and static field, then go ahead, if not then just try to send him back to his base. ONLY use wrath if you are really sure it can kill, otherwise you might not be able to use it when you really need it.

Mid game items :

Point booster (1200)

Boots Of Speed (500)

Blink dagger(2150)

After here, it’s really up to you what you want to get. Heart for more survibility and more static field procs, scepter for more life+mana, refresher if you are sure that you will have enough mana for a double wrath.

Late game (levels 16 -25)

Basically just the same as how you play during mid game, except now you should be getting your refresher orb anytime, since your power is beginning to diminish… Your priority now is to cast

= 1545 mana, with an agahim you should have no problem doing this, if you still have excessive mana then use them all on arc lightning, if not then blink yourself away to safety if you find yourself being the the first target. You would have now dealt 427.5 X 2 damage on all of the enemy heroes, reducing most agi and int heroes by 1/2. Many of you here would now say they can get bkb, but bkb is not a strong argument because in how many games have you seen all 5 heroes getting bkb AND using them at the same time? Even if they use them at the same time, it is easy for zeus because he will not be entering the battle scene first, and they cannot possibly buy BKB just to block a stupid wrath can they? So most of the times they will use it once the battle starts, you can always wait till it finishes before using wrath. Planewalker’s and hood may be good, but do not forget, there is still static field.

Things you should remember

1) Never, never spam arc lightning on a hero early game. This is pointless! How many times have you spent all your mana just by using arc lightning and your opposing hero still hangs around in his lane healing hit points slowly with a Ring of Regen/tangoes/flasks? Arc lightning is a great farming tool early game when you have difficulty last hitting creeps.2) If you really want to harass an enemy hero, the best way is to use lightning bolt instead of arc lightning. Lightning bolt deals much more more damage for an additional cost of not even near 40.3) It is wise to save up your mana till level 6 or 7 if you have no trouble in your lane.4) When facing mana burners it is best to switch lanes, without mana you cannot kill and if you cannot kill early game you will be weak late game5) Wrath should never be used to ks, let me ask you, how many times in games have you often occurred across this:

A Zeus uses wrath to ks his teammate at the fountain just a few seconds ago. Now, there is another fight going on, and it involves 2 of your allies and 2 of your enemies. 2 of your allies DIED and the enemies escaped with barely a bit of hp left, and you cannot wrath!!! Do you know how irritating it is to your team and you?

Or

A Zeus uses wrath to ks his teammate at the fountain just a few minutes ago. Zeus goes to farm, but ends up being backstabbed by bone, zeus spams on his skills on him knowing that he cant outrun bone, but lightning bolt cooldown is way too long and not fast enough for a final hit on the bone with less than 200hp left, and you find that you have enough mana to wrath but too bad, it is still on cooldown.

6) Wrath should not be used whenever its cooldown is finished, I have seen some Zeus doing this and I always end up laughing my head off.7) Blink dagger, in any case, should always be reserved for escaped purposes, because you will not be blinking into the middle of a battle, you can always stay back at a distance and nuke the nearest hero nearest to you. The key to your success is your early game dominance9) He is one of the damage dealers in a team

Conclusion

I hope you have enjoyed reading the guide and now have a better idea of how strong Zeus really is, he is not meant for ksing! And well, his skills are not really that hard to use, just aim and click, thus I cannot really go indepth. And people normally claims that people who uses Zeus are just noobs who likes to ks, but well actually even ksing takes skill, the timing and all, and if he really is a noob he would be getting killed the whole game so how the #$ can he ks you when he is dead? But even if your timing is real good, you should not ks with Zeus in any case, because there are always lots of chances for you to use wrath on a retreating hero that your ally cannot catch up with.

i agree with anonymus when he said Gank Early, support late.. i mean what else can you possibly do in late game when everyone is really freaking fat and all you have is your 350 (375) damage nuke?! You have no future in DotA... Please quit. thanks

guinsoo is usefulmore disable = more good ;)also, as the time progress, arcane is uselessit doesn't give healthbetter get bottleguinsoo gives hp though ^_^HoT? lol getting soulbooster is betterdont forget the 6.60 changes ^_^

Great way to contradict yourself by saying head to the top or bottom lanes to get to level 6 ASAP. Since top or bottom 97% of the time you will be with a team mate which will mean shared xp which means you will get to level 6 slower than you would of been able to do normally. Tango's and claritys are ok but are not recommendable. Best to start off with a bottle and use the ruins get a chick to carry it back and forth between ruin spawns.

Mid lane with the possibilty of invis and haste are easy kills for zeus for either lanes. Throw in a couple of wards and you have easy rune and lane control.

If your facing a agility or int hero without much regen items and moderatly low health it's best to skip arc lightning and focus on static field and lightning bolt for the most damaage. Couple that in with runes and it will be easy lane dominance. Should get your first kill on your lane by level 4-5 and proceed with ganking with your nice over powered lightning and static field doing high damage.

i dont like to use arcane ring to Zeus.Why?Because you can cast 1 extra Lightning Bolt in every 35 sec.But its too long if you are in hurrySo use 2x Perseverance or Bloodstone.Guinsoo,its good cause it is the highest int. + itemthan aghanimsso goodshivais it good w/ zeus?

ALL OF U THAT COMMENTED ON TJIS GUIDELINE ARE NOOB,WEAKLINGS,CHICKENS AND CRYING BABY IN ITS STUPID LITTLE BED !!! WHY DON`T YOU ALL JUST PLAY DOTA..SAME HERO..5 V 5 OR SOMETHING..!! WEAKERZZZZZZZZZ BABIES!! CHALLENGE ME IF YOU`RE ALL READY. I`LL FIGHT EVEN ITS 5 V 1..HAHAHA..I CAN TAKE YOU ALL..!! PROMISE ^_^

i know how 2 use zeus , the character who can kill him quickly is gyrocapter just build the item dagger and linken sphere add lvl 1 homming missile when gyro is lvl 1.use homming missile 2 zeus, when zeus is running away .......keep him running the more further ther more damage it costs....when he is stuned use dagger to get 2 him quickly, if u r now lvl 2 add rocket barrage lvl 1 and use it 2 zeus it is a bash skill so zeus dont just go easily with that skill...i got the fastest 1st blood only 2 minutes and 28 seconds......

guides are meant as GUIDES not really HOW TO PLAY THE HERO..he jus posted his opinion on how to play zeus..if u haf a better way then feel free to post otherwise shut up n dont flame...n btw guide sucks

sell the arcane ring and replace it with guinsoo in late game.... arcane ring are already USELESS in late games and u have the money....so buy guinsoo or bloodstone............hahaha my buildboots of travel(for your speed)aghanims scepter(for ur ultimate)dagon 5 (for late game)bloodstone(use this instead of heart)dagger(escape mechanism)maelstrom(just for fun)

Shit the comments!!!look at your items..guinsoo wont be good just few seconds disable wont be a late game factor,arcane doesnt exist now better put a radiance.for middle games you need 2 bracers for it is equivalent to 1 vanguard plus mana and agi and damage if I (just estimating no calculator) calculated it right.and dagger damn i dont know how to escape using dagger why(needs 3 seconds not damage)dagon5 will just tikle late game.HoT is change to bloodstone.agan is needed and for the guide you need static for damage.And for dagger like i said before wont be very good even your just supporting and the comment having skadi deso and orb damn skadi and deso NEVER works together cuz it stacks my build is:

Travel(speed)Agha(ulti)bloodstone(survival regen)radiance(money)deso(damage for traped survival)Either the FF:shiva(battle damage and last hit but you could use lightning bolt)MKB(considering just for my build anti stun for trap survival)mjoilner or divine(for fun)

zeus is more suited with coward style, "hit and run". a killer but also a flower. leave no chance taking damage. stay outta the way and everything's gonna be okay :D hav big mana pool and try to stay longer in battles, dont be hungry. it's a pathway to heaven... xD

idk what to say about the think with guinsoo... but ... someone said that zeus has no dmg late-game... WTF? Dude, he's one of the best nukers ever with his passive ( also one of the best in the game )... i would make guinsoo as my 5/6 item...

barely yes....you basically have no idea how powerful the zeus is.Try to research more or rather play dota 1 or 2 so that you'll get more experience.Rather than how you critize a well builted hero..Go back to square one...

To the man who said "ALL OF YOU THAT COMMENTED.....""" hey weak! or I should call you fool..you're telling us weak..TRY CHECKING YOUR BLOODY BRAIN...ohh sorry,I forgot your brain is USELESS...Why don't you stop playing because your wrecking the reputation Zeus and also the DOTA... Try using your useless brain at all time..alright?